Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Sharpie S Gel Pen

It is well known that I have a minor addiction to office supplies and I am a pen snob. I have been using almost exclusively the Pilot G-2 in 05. This is a great and smooth  pen but it inky and smears easily. I did not even know this pen existed until my wife showed me video on TikTok where the user had some serious hype over this pen and the users enthusiasm was contagious. The original hype originally came from Twitter:

That is smooth as f@#$! If you do not know who Kristi Yamaguchi is, I would suggest to go look her up on youtube. What did I do after I learned about this pen? I got dressed, put on my mask, and went to my friendly local Staples store and picked up a four pack in 05 that included two black, one red, and one blue. 

After I got home. I grabbed same paper - removed the wax ball on the point and wrote, scribbled, and doodled. I was instantly impressed and it did not smear! Though, before I passed final judgement I took the pens to work where I do a lot of writing. I have to say, it passed.

The Sharpie S Pen is comfortable to grip, seems to be constructed in a sturdy fashion, has a good clip, writes smooth, and has a hair of resistance so you know you are writing which is a very enjoyable feeling. I have not experienced the 07 or thew 1.0 sizes of this pen as I tend to like the 05 thickness and that is the size I stay with.

It breaks my heart to say this, but I think I found a replacement for my beloved Pilot G2 pens. As a player and GM, a good pen is a MUST!!!


You can find it here:

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Detroit Suck City: Episode 11.1


 [Side Quest: Huey and 9s]

After the crew divided up the various tasks, Huey and 9s (9 of 12 decided this was an acceptable nickname) decided to take the task of returning one of the children they rescued to his father. The boy explained that his father was one of the God Keepers and the boy promised him safe passage into his fathers domain. 

Huey and 9s decided it would be best to leave as soon as possible because 9s was adamant that they should conduct all of their business during the day and should not be out and about at night. This is due to the fact that places like these change when the sun goes down. 

The boy explained that he will lead Huey and 9s from the south side to the northern center area in a round about way avoiding the major tracks of the central city. As they left the safety of their Rail Tank they almost immediately come across a very busy bar by the name of the Lucky Rail. In a quick whispered conversation Huey and 9s decide it will be best to avoid any distractions and get the boy back as fast as possible. As they continued to push forward doing their best to avoid any contact with the locals and making sure the boy stays close to them they pass a place called The Clotted Dream and standing out front was a female bovine  mutant with makeup, dressed in lingerie with her utters hanging out, and she quickly singled out Huey as we passed by. The female bovine smiled largely at Huey and made man suggestive remarks and how if he ever wants some loving they will change his life to come back. Huey blushed and quickened his past as 9s made asked, "I think she likes you, we should come back later", and Huey mumbled something that 9s could not quite make out. 


They traveled on and passed a blacksmith shop called Tarley's Vegan Bloodshiites with an armadillo mutant hard at work at the forge and 9s made a mental note about some of the shields for sale. During their tour of the city, 9s would point out various things to Ren or react to things she pointed out and would explain various things to her. Huey ignored these interactions and the boy never said a word about them. They quickly came across an open air market with various stalls, tents, and lots of food vendors. Huey drooled as he passed various stalls with cooking meat and 9s promised Ren on the way back he would get he something. 

As the crew rounded the corner heading back in a southern direction they passed a very stalked modern weapon shop called Max Death the looked like it had all kinds of firearms and other oddities in it. The person standing on the sales desk appeared to be a large human dressed in desert camouflage and Huey looked at 9s and said we definitely have to do some shopping there. This was the first time Huey saw 9s fully smile (outside of the half smile 9s has when he is talking to Ren) and Huey considered the full smile psychotically horrifying. After more time, they come to a store called The Stinky Pillage that is full of junk - a sight that can only be described as a post apocalyptic thrift store from hell. The boy leads Huey and 9s into this store and around a piles of junk and down various isles to the back where the boy opens up a secret door into what appears to be a rail car heading down into the earth. As soon as they step through the door closes behind them and the boy motions to keep following. They tread slowing with Huey and 9s being on edge and reminding each other to stay frosty. They cross over to the another rail car heading farther down into the earth before it levels out and they come across two guards dressed on gold and white, armed with charged staffs. The guards stiffen up when they see the boy and exclaim, "it is good to have you back".

The boy leads them past the guards and into a natural cave structure. They quickly enter a main area set up with tables that people were eating at and more guards. The guards once again stiffen up and  exclaim how happy they are to see the boy alive as the boy leads them into a side corridor that slants upward and then they enter a round room with a table and chairs in the middle, and about six people on their hands and knees praying. These people appear to be praying to a giant metal orb set in the ceiling with various lights flicking through it. Huey asks the boy, "what is that" and the boy simply responds, "God". One of the praying people looks up and notices the boy, jumps up, yells "SON!", and runs to the boy to embrace him. After a long time the man hugging the boy looks up to Huey and 9s with a scowl before the boy explains these people saved him from the Star people and tells his father Huey (as the boy points to Huey) carried him out of the lab himself. The boys father introduces himself as Selonius and becomes jovial and invites them to dinner. Huey is more then happy to agree as 9s sits off to the corner feeding the various vegetables to Ren (The God Keepers are vegetarians) and Selonius (and the other onlookers) is kind enough not to question 9s about his behavior. After sometime Selonius leads them away from the crowd and thanks them again for bringing his son home and asks them if there is anything they can do. 9s says it is a hard expensive world out there and whatever help he can provide would be greatly appreciated. Selonius looks at 9 like he is looking into someones soul and smiles. Selonius Produces a strange circular crystal with circuitry inside of it and hands it to Huey and explains, "this will help keep you and your crew healthy". Selonius then turns to 9s and hands him a very heavy bag of coin and says, "this should help you in your journey". After countless promises from Huey and 9s not to reveal their existence as Selonius hands him a coin with a symbol of an eye within a cog on it and says "whenever you need help from one of our kind, show them this and you will always find friends."

Huey and 9s are lead through a different mage of passages and exit out into the sunlight of Rail City. As they walk towards the tracks they see a rail car surrounded by heavily armed men dressed in black with very crude robots loading packages into the cart. Some of the men take notice of Huey and 9s and Huey quickly acts like he his zipping up his fly and proclaims they he had to much to drink and sorry they had to witness his handy work as 9s just tips his hat towards them as they keep to the edge making sure not to stare at the men in black and what they are doing. One of the men in black grunts, takes a long drag of his smoke, and waves them on. Huey and 9s head north away from the men in black and quickly recognize the area the boy led them through and continue on. 

The first building the pass has a strange symbol on it as they stopped to look inside. This quickly attracts the attention of someone proclaiming to be a priest of the Cryrorx and explains that they can show them them the way to the deep freeze and how they will never want to leave. The priestly fellow rambles on about this for sometime before 9s had enough and pulls Huey away by the elbow and Huey says they may swing by later. As soon as they are out of ear shot 9s explains to Huey how he used to work in a Cryo lab freezing and unfreezing people before and for sometime after the bombs fell. Huey was surprised by this knowledge and proclaimed almost to loudly that 9s must be an ancient one. 

9s then tells Huey that they should swing by that Max Death shop before it gets dark and so they do. 9s hands the guy a round from is colt .45 and asks if he as more. The owner of the shop tried to sale Huey everything as 9s looks through a giant box of random ammunition and getting frustrated after only finding 3 rounds, flips the guy a gold coin, and says "keep the change".

Huey and 9s leave the shop and pass through the market place as 9s mumbles something about it is getting to dark. As 9s starts arguing with Ren about how he will buy her some meat on a stick tomorrow because they market is closing down a huge explosion from the south side the rocks Rail City. As the rumbles die down, everyone goes back to they business, except for the city guard who start coming out of various buildings and down the walls to head in that direction. Huey finds the person he sees and asks, "What was that explosion?" The stranger responds with, "it is a dangerous land and a dangerous city. Rail city is a sanctuary to some and a coffin to others" as the stranger moves about his business.

Huey and 9s decide that is a good idea ti get back to their tank as quick as possible as the sun is setting and Rail City is becoming darker and dark as it really does not have street lights. As the backtrack they see a young kid with a vest that has a familiar symbol on it pick pocket and gentlemen in robes and vanish into the darkness. Huey and 9s quickly decide it is not their problem as 9s reminds Ren to stay out of sight. Huey and 9s pass the The Clotted Dream and 9s tried to convince Huey he should pay the gal that liked him so a visit, how it would be a good place to hole up, and they he would even pay for Huey's stay. Huey would have not of it and kept on walking.

As they start to near the noisy bar and their Rail Tank a trolly passes them, lighting a young male with a sharp piece of metal trying to break into a door. Huey starts to light his torch and 9s yells about the torch and why it is taking so long. A sharp piece of metal flies over Huey's head and before they realized it the mysterious person shoulders past them and tries to run off in the dark. 9s quickly concentrates on the culprit and hear a yelp of pain as Huey takes after him and tackles the culprit to the ground. Huey rolls him over as 9s positions himself behind him to block ans escape routes. It is apparent that their culprit is in bad shape with a bloody mess of a face. Huey takes out his crystal, presses it to the culprits face as the wounds start to close up as he become more coherent and starts to mumble how he meant nothing by it and did not want to hurt anyone but was just hungry. 9s decides that they have wasted enough time with this and presses a gold into his hands and tells him to run as fast as he can. Huey lets the culprit up and he takes off. 

As Huey and 9s get to their Rail Tank they see the half of the South gate is blown open with the door off of its hinges and there is a complete work crew (with a crane and other heavy equipment) in the process of repairs as a large number of the city guard stand in a defensive formation with a large green mutant in the middle of it all overseeing it. 

9s quickly checks the tank to drop Ren off and realizes that the rest of their crew is gone as Huey goes of and questions some people at the bar and one of the guards. After Huey barely escapes some suspicion with the guards he returns to the Rail Tank to find 9s tucking in Ren singing a bedtime song as Huey starts to explain the short of it is some asshole took issue with the big green boss and shot a missile at the gate and the asshole was caught and was taken to the death pits. Huey and 9s surmised in was one of their assholes and decides to investigate in the morning when it is safer. 

 Just another day in Detroit Suck City...

__________________________________________________________________________________

PLAYER THOUGHTS: So, after episode 10 we all decided it would be best to divide and conquer because there was so much everyone want to accomplish in Rail City. Before I even go into the rest of my thoughts, I have to say this was a really fun session. It had almost no dice rolls as it was 99% role play.

The side quest we were on actually ended up getting rescheduled 3 times due to various scheduling conflicts (our side quest was originally scheduled to be first). This strangely worked in out favor as  the other players got to due their side quests first which provided various intertwining story lines (which is going to end up in a few parts to each side quest) for us to interact with. A lot of what we accomplished really ended up being because one of us decided to save one of the kids in the cages a few episodes back and we kept a low profile (think this was a big part of our success so far in Rail City). I think the interaction between our characters and the men in black could have went south (and that is what the encounter was meant to do I am sure) but a clutch Nat 20 was rolled in the Charisma area and the men in black did not consider us a threat. 

I (playing 9s) would have also burnt the God Keepers to the ground (not out of spite but out of 9s self preservation crusade to destroy knowledge of the old world) if it wasn't for the God Keeps treating 9s like a human and looking at him like a being with a soul.

Once we got back to the rail car and learned (well one hell of an educated guess) that it was our assholes that blew up the fence and ended up in trouble we all laughed and there many snide comments of that figures and worse. 

Our lovely GM respond to our series of conspiracy theories about the other members with a shrug and this statement;

"NOT EVERYONE GOT A HEALING CRYSTAL AND A BAG OF GOLD"

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

The LARP Bug

It has been a longtime since  (life circumstances, lack of groups, lack of time, and having my LARP stuff stolen) since I have got to participate into any type of serious LARP (Live Action Role Play) and before then I was LARPing on and off depending on my circumstances and the availability of groups. Recently, I have gotten the bug again and I have been working on tracking down local groups and interest but this has proven difficult to due to the state of the union and a few other factors. I think I have gotten the bug from my recent communications with By Night Studios and reading various stories regarding the subject matter.

Most of my experience has been with Minds Eye Theater for the World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, etc) with some boffer thrown in. 

When I was in high school I ran a two year hybrid (tabletop/LARP) Vampire the Masquerade game that towards the end it got so big I needed multiple Storytellers and lots of chaos and multiple story lines ensued. After that I played in various games where I was able to make it off and on and one of my last experience was a six month Vampire the Requiem campaign where we met every week and played downtown. This was one of my favorite experiences and my schedule allowed me to be consistent so a lot of stories and other situations bared some very rewarding fruit. It was also my first experience where we were playing in a more public area (it was close to downtown instead of a park, private property, etc) where we could go a block over and mingle with the normal population and even use the various restaurants, etc. I thought that was really great, there was about 3/4 blocks that where more isolated and peaceful and then a block or two that was more in the general public eye. Home base was the public library and locations spread out form there. The location made things interesting and added a lot of immersion elements. In addition, I got to meet a lot of great people. Though, I moved away from that location and that was about seven years ago. 

My last experience was a convention experience shortly after the release of the new Vampire the Masquerade rules came out (I had my physical copies in hand). The game was an all nighter and it is chaotically fun. Though, this is where my LARP got stolen during the morning hours at breakfast so that really marred my final experience.


My boffer experiences I can count on one hand. I have got to experience some organizational like Nero and some home brews like Firefly. I had fun at all of the venues but some of them I enjoyed more then others. My favorite was the Firefly session I went to and my least favorite was one of the Nero games I went to. A few years ago (I think in 2018) I was really trying to prep and plan for an old west World of Darkness (that was about three hours away) game that was going to be one of those all weekend events. I spent the time and tried to collect various Nerf gear, seed packets, and some costume pieces. Alas, some life events happened that made that trip impossible. This was a big bummer to me because even though it was a boffer LARP, combat was not a main focus and the people who wanted to go and fight could and while others could stay in town and focus on role play. There was also a sash you could wear that designated you as a non combatant. 

When I think about my experiences of LARP (just like my tabletop gaming) have been mostly good. I have had some negative experiences but those have remained with individuals then the venue or game as a whole. Outside of those situations, I have had some great role play experiences and enjoyed some breathtaking character development. This is in addition to all the memorable character and story interactions.

Thinking about it all, I really prefer the theater style LARP (like Minds Eye Theater) that use Rock/Paper/Scissors system or a card mechanic for resolution. Between RPS and a card system (like Vampire the Requiem MET) I prefer the card system as you get more variable results and it makes it feel like the characters abilities are more effective. Though, with some of the LARP gear now available like RPS cards (which fixed one of my biggest issues with it) I enjoy the RPS a lot more. 

With that being said, I can enjoy boffer but it is something I do not seek out much unless it is not heavily combat focused. This is really for two main reasons. The first one being is that there is a big difference between character's skill and my in real life skill with boffer weapons. The second being is boffer usually requires hefty investments in costumes, weapons/gear, and travel/time/money for the all weekend venues. 

I guess the point of all of this is to say that I got the bug to LARP again and I have been slowly trying to recover some of my stolen materials (I have had some people reach out to help me that I am greatly appreciative of). I am also on a quest to find a local group and I hope there are people I can get in contact with - even if they are dark or online right now. 

There is also a new LARP style that I have recently discovered that I hope to get experience. It is called Nordic/Scandinavian psychodramas and a lot of venues have ran this style in the WOD setting as well as other styles. The venue seems to give people pre-generated flawed characters. The role play theme is not to play to win but to play to make interesting stories. A lot of what I have read it about has gotten my full curiosity. It is now on my bucket list to try.